Gavaskar backs BCCI's decision to ban players

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Last Updated: Tue, May 15, 2012 14:41 hrs

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday supported BCCI for suspending five uncapped Indian players as allegation of spot-fixing in the IPL surfaced through a television sting operation.

"Yes, it was correct to suspend them. That's the least they could have done," said Gavaskar.

The action to suspend Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, TP Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali with immediate effect pending inquiry was taken after a lengthy tele-conference of top BCCI officials and members of the IPL's Governing Council on Tuesday.

"You don't need players who are even contemplating doing the things that they have allegedly done. You need to ban them not just from IPL but ban them till the inquiry is complete," Gavaskar told an Indian news channel.

The Indian Cricket Board swung into action a day after the expose as the issue rocked Parliament and former players and cricket administrators called for strong action to rid the game of even a whiff of a scandal.

Television channel 'India TV' on Monday claimed to have blown the lid off "murky deals" in the IPL among players, organisers, owners and big guns of Indian cricket.

The TV sting operation which was aired at prime time on Monday created a flutter in the Indian cricket establishment prompting the BCCI to react quickly.

The channel had claimed it had done a sting operation in which many players confessed on hidden camera they get much more than their prescribed auction under the table.

According to the channel, its operation also revealed that spot-fixing is not only prevalent in IPL but also that first class matches are fixed and women played an important role in match-fixing.

The IPL's Governing Council had sought video footage from the TV channel and is understood to have scrutinised the tapes before taking the decision of suspending the players.